The road to the NBA should be paved with yellow bricks, not blemished by outlines of chalk. If this season's top draft class signals anything, it's that the grooming of professional basketball players is in need of an Extreme Takeover.

O.J. Mayo's walk to the Madison Square Garden draft podium Thursday night will trigger memories of the mockery he made of the NBA's "one-and-done" rule. Others will inspire thoughts of unscrupulous agents and AAU coaches.

"Jerryd's dad has a Ph.D. I have a masters," said Bowman, the mother of surefire lottery pick Jerryd Bayless. "But neither of us was ever taught anything about navigating this craziness."

By the time players declare themselves eligible for the NBA draft, most have been manipulated by youth coaches, misguided by agents and influenced by shoe companies. Instead of pushing for players to be two years removed from high school, as NBA Commissioner David Stern suggested he'll do in the next collective-bargaining agreement, the league needs to make good on its promise that it's committed to helping clean up the sport.

At a surprise news conference during the Final Four in San Antonio, a panel of heavy hitters, including Stern, NCAA President Myles Brand and AAU President Bobby Dodd, spoke of a new joint venture financed by the NBA and NCAA to help make over youth basketball. Despite the strong representation of news media from around the country, many chose to ignore or report sparingly on the announcement. Why?

Skepticism. The parties involved have conflicting agendas.

Listen. It's honorable NBA executives want a role — it's not their responsibility — but they need to redirect their focus. Forcing players to go to college — since 2006, draftees must be at least 19 and a year out of high school — made a mockery of the system.

"An absolute disgrace," ESPN's Dick Vitale said, "an embarrassment to the student-athlete. It's a joke that they're being denied an opportunity to make a living. Look at the names in this draft. They have a similar ring."

Remember Mayo? Remember that fuzzy story about how he went to Southern California because he had to go somewhere, and Los Angeles met his marketing needs? How he sent a mysterious man into the office of coach Tim Floyd, who offered up Mayo but not the high school phenom's cell number?

"He'll call you," Floyd recalls being told.

Big shocker. The player is now being investigated for accepting thousands of dollars and other benefits from an agent. C'mon. He didn't want to be there. By pretending Mayo would embrace Philosophy 101 — maybe he'll learn Jean-Paul Sartre had an explosive first step — the NBA welcomed his baggage.

Meanwhile, Arizona recruit Brandon Jennings is considering jumping from high school to pro ball in Europe because of eligibility issues and frustration with the NBA's age requirement. It never ends.

The argument that, without college, players are ill-prepared for NBA life, doesn't wash. When the Phoenix Suns drafted Orlando prep standout Amare Stoudemire in 2002, they took a proactive approach to help his transition. Few have had a tougher upbringing, but the rookie handled the sequel smoothly thanks to a cocoon the organization built around him.

If the league really wants to help, stop preventing players from earning a paycheck. Instead, it should do a better job monitoring the agents it licenses to represent players and be more aggressive in the role of helping police youth basketball.

"Having a powerful organization like the NBA involved is good," Dodd said at the Final Four news conference. "Or at the very least, it's a good first step."

Let's hope so. The road to the NBA should never feel like a crime scene.

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